Great Comp Garden announces a brand new “Focus on Salvias” event to promote a summer survivor!
Saturday 26th & Sunday 27th September, 10am – 5pm
Featuring expert care tips and insights from salvia specialist William Dyson the new event offers a glimmer of hope to gardeners who’ve experienced one of the trickiest summers in living memory.
William Dyson, curator at Great Comp Garden, and owner of one of the best salvia collections in Europe says: “Autumn has always been the optimum time to plant perennials, but this year, more than any other in living memory, autumn is the only sensible time to plant in 2026! September offers a glimmer of hope with cooler, greener, damper days that encourage us to select and plant climate-change resistant specimens like salvias which stood up to the long hot days and drought experienced this year.”
Great Comp Garden is perhaps one of the most important salvia gardens in the UK thanks to the garden’s position on the sandy ridge above Sevenoaks.
Home to one of the most comprehensive salvia collections in Europe – the special salvia weekend at Great Comp Garden gives visitors a deep dive into the incredible diversity of the genus.
William Dyson, who has spent more than three decades cultivating over 250 hybrids and species onsite, will be joined by Senior Gardener Kristyna Kay-Clough to answer visitor questions. Guests will also have the opportunity to purchase an extensive selection of salvias directly from Dyson’s award-winning onsite nursery.
Following successful trials utilising his Kent developed hybrids with RHS Wisley, Dyson emphasises their remarkable endurance:
“The trials at RHS Wisley a decade ago, utilising many of my hybrids developed in Kent, proved what an amazing plant choice the Salvia is. The plants produce a multitude of flowers and persevere to get through our South East winter. More importantly for us in 2026, we have learned how to look after them in prolonged heat and drought. While many plants previously thought to be good resilient species have ‘cooked’ in the gardens this year, the salvia has persevered. While we have watered our collection, particularly the larger leafed salvias (from cloud forest areas), we have also accepted the torpor from our shrubby Mexicans who are waiting for the next downpour, when they’ll come into growth again.”
Expert Insights from Breeder William Dyson
Reflecting on his passion for the genus, William Dyson shares:
“Watching the bees lazily engage in a pollinatory dance with the Mexican shrubby Salvias is, to me, the essence of a perfect late summer day. I first laid eyes on Salvias forty five years ago when I was working in the Sheffield parks department. And it was my arrival at Great Comp Garden in 1993 which coincided with the release of the hybrid derived from two species, Salvia microphylla and S. greggii (Salvia X jamensis) discovered by Compton, d’Arcy and Rix growing in the Sierra Madre, that set me on my quest to cultivate more and more of the plants.”
Highlighting how versatile salvias are within landscape design, William Dyson adds: “If you’ve got a sunny spot, and as long as there’s enough room, you can mix them in with a great variety of plants to produce lovely visual changes in texture, scent, shape, size and colour.”
The Ultimate Salvia Care Guide
To help gardeners achieve a brilliant, prolonged display, salvias can flower continuously from May to November, William Dyson shares his core care guidelines:
Habitat and Sunlight: Salvias require well-suited, well-drained soil and flourish in pots or containers. They thrive in ample sunlight, needing a position in full sun.
Pruning x 2 : The initial spring trim (which is the harder of the two) in late March, early April, is when you remove all dead growth, cutting back to where new growth emerges. The second crucial prune takes place in July, known as the “Hampton Hack” – it’s slightly more than a dead-head, removing a third of growth. This mid-summer cut rewards gardeners with vibrant blooms throughout late summer and autumn. Cut back fairly low down, remove any dead shoots, and trim the inflorescences so they cleanly replace themselves across a 5-week window.
Propagation: The easiest and most reliable method is to use softwood cuttings, collected from actively growing plants, as early in the season as is practicable. This allows plants to become established before winter. Semi-ripe material collected in late summer is often recommended.
It is more difficult to overwinter young plants or rooted cuttings using this method and losses caused by the grey mould (Botrytis cinerea) can be high during autumn and winter. Botrytis is one of the worst diseases to affect salvias and can quickly wipe out large numbers of young plants if allowed to proliferate unnoticed.
Good air movement and fairly high light levels, coupled with good nursery hygiene are the best ways to combat the disease.
William’s Featured Salvias:
Salvia ‘Amethyst Lips’: The Hot Lips was the iconic bi-coloured variety that helped put the salvia genus firmly on the map around 2002. Salvia Pink Lips is a later introduction and we have the purple variety Salvia ‘Amethyst Lips’.
Salvia jamensis ‘Peter Vidgeon’: Bred by the late Robin Middleton, this 75cm shrubby variety features deep green leaves and unique lilac-pink flowers.
Salvia ‘Nachtvlinder’: A striking dark maroon-purple hybrid from Hans Kramer’s Dutch nursery De Hessenhof, known for being a bushy grower that tolerates most good soils and yields copious quantities of flowers. Other brilliant selections highlighted in the collection include Dyson’s Joy, Pink Pong, So Cool Pale Blue, and Jezebel.
Event Essentials
Saturday 26th and Sunday 27th September 2026, 10am – 5pm.
Great Comp Garden, Comp Lane, Platt, Nr Sevenoaks, Kent, TN15 8QS.
Admission: Standard garden admission charges apply (Free for Great Comp Garden members). RHS members receive a special 20% discount on day admission by paying at the gate and presenting a valid RHS membership card. (Note: Standard free September/October RHS entry concessions do not apply during this event weekend). For more information click here.
